For Dance4Life, 2018 was an exciting and important year. We joined forces against the biggest sexual health threats young people face: HIV, unwanted pregnancies and sexual & gender-based violence. You can read the full report here, or the article below showing five main highlights.
- We are happy that we empowered 50,000 youngsters this year. They in turn, reached out to another 250,000 young people. We hope to expand our programme next year, to empower even more youngsters. Continuing with empowerment is very urgent. Far too many young people are unable to reach their full potential. Extreme poverty, inequality or lack of information holds them back. In the face of uncertainty and insecurity, young people are less likely to practice healthy and safe sex, have stable relationships or make informed decisions about if and when to have children.
- First evaluations show our empowerment model is making real changes for young people. They have more confidence regarding their sexual relationships. For example, in Nepal, gender equal attitudes between boys and girls increased by 31%. In Tanzania, 32% more young people have been tested for HIV and in Ghana 11% more young people are willing to use condoms.
- We finalised our three-year programme “Save the Date” in Nepal (funded by The Dutch Postcode Lottery) aimed at raising awareness and ultimately reducing the incidences of child marriages. Over three years we reached almost 87,000 people in Nepal. Key results include: a 35% increase in students’ knowledge about their sexual health rights and a 93% (!) decrease of school drop out related to child marriages.
- We were out there: Our positioning as thought leader on empowerment and sexual health is getting stronger. We are increasingly recognised as frontrunner by funders, potential franchisees and important stakeholders like UN agencies.
- We have reached over 11,500 Dutch students through our Schools4Life programme. Schools, students and funders asked us to re-focus the program on sexual intimidation in the Netherlands to increase our relevance.
Together we empower
- This impact was made possible by many people’s awesome efforts! Our ambassadors, reaching millions with our #Idecide4myself campaign. Our Friends4Life with their network, knowledge and donations. The Dutch students in Schools4Life, talking about sex and taking action. And of course, our amazing young trainers, partners and funders. Together we empower young people to take ownership of their sexual lives.
